Inside Sugarbana’s street-pop souvenirs

Nigerian singer, Sugarbana, is a quintessential entertainer who has been active in the Afrobeats scene in the last six years. His street pop/hop anthems have caught on strongly among Afrobeats lovers, with his latest EP, Ashes, making a strong comeback since his 2021 record, A Taste of Sugar.

In his newest compilation record, the fusion-focused musician, born Princewill Cyprian Okafor, continues to dish out his cultural harmonies, as is rife on the EP’s lead track, “Winner” featuring Mr Real and South African act Smangori. The EP flourishes with his hybrid of Dancehall, RnB, Pop, and Highlife.

Even in his most recent song dubbed, “Surrender”, featuring Nigerian rapper Odumodublvck, he makes another strong dash for the popular charts with his interesting Dancehall melodies and neat fusions. Catching up with The Guardian, the superstar gives a peek into his artistry as Sugarbana, detailing his experiences making his latest EP, as well as his muses; come-up journey; and his mission to keep making music that feels like a souvenir of everyday life.

What have you been up to since you dropped your EP?
We have tried to intensely push two tracks from the project, which is “Winner”, featuring Mr Real and Smangori. We have started another project again too. Then, we also had to drop the one with the Odumodublvck, “Surrender”, just recently.

Tell us about the session with Odumodublvck
Myself and Odumodublvck have been guys from the start. So when he was in Lagos, some time ago, I hit him up, and I told him I wanted us to work on something. So we did this song. But then he advised me to put it out when we want to do something major, and with cool finance.

What inspires you to make music?
So, for me, the things that drive me to make music are my surroundings. You know, everyday reality matters. You know, the cases that I experienced, and not the things that I’ve been told. And most especially a lot of my songs come to me in my dreams. Sometimes it just comes from a very divine spiritual place. I just get the melody on my voice notes and I call the producer to work on it, and even before the producer comes, I already have an idea and a direction how the song should sound. So when we’re in the studio, everything just happens magically.

You were featured on Basketmouth’s A Ghetto Love Story. Tell us about that session.
That session was epic. Man, I’ll never forget it. So one time I was in the house, and then Bizzle called me and they told me to pull up that Basketmouth is working on the project and they feel like I’ll be one of the artists they want to be a part of. And then I pulled up to where they were and Doctor Seth was the producer. And for some reasons, after the whole record, the song went well, but when they were going to put out the album my song did not make it to that project. So, this year, Basketmouth was going to work on another project, and they reached out to me and told me that they’ve been able to rearrange the song; initially, it was just me and Ice Prince, but this new version has a very different arrangement and Ill bliss was on it. Then this song made it to this new album. And, you know, since the song dropped, people have been calling, I’ve been talking about it.

Tell us how you got the name Sugarbana.
Some years back, I was in Bangkok with my friends and we wanted to put out a song. And then, while we went online to do some research, we found out that there were too many people that were bearing my former name, and they were entertainers, musicians, and all that. I needed a new name. We wanted a name that nobody else has ever built before and something that people will really like when they hear and it is easy and sweet for them to recall. And then I just remembered that my late mom used to call me sugar banana anytime she wanted to call me, because when I come back from school, I go to a shop to help her sell the market, and then she makes quite enough customers who praise me for my sweet mouth. She used to say my mouth is as sweet as a sugar banana. And then she just used to call me SUGARBANA. It sounded funny every time she said it. And to me, I feel good because a name was created by my late mother, and I thank God that SUGARBANA was the name that came when the rebranding process happened.

So, what’s next for you?
Right now, what I’m really trying to do is get people hooked on to the new sound that I’m creating, because I’m trying to create a sound that is rare. And for people that know me well, you will know that I’m someone who listens to a lot of Sean Paul, Wyclef Jean and a lot of Dancehall artistes; because there is some uniqueness to it apart from their voice. There is this technique, you know, that they put into their music, which I feel like is the reason people around the world were really grooving with them to the point that they were able to sell concerts and stadiums and packed up shows. So, for me, I’m just here to make real music that people can feel and play it during their day-to-day activity, and at the same time, a song that when I when I’m able to perform in a stage like O2 arena, and other stages all over the world, I want to hear people sing what I’m saying. There is no greater feeling than that. But yes, it’s work, and I would not stop the work until we get the result that we are looking for.